The timeline

The timeline shows what frame of the shot you're workingon and has many features to help manage large jobs.I'm using the same Nuke script here as in the previous video.You can click and drag the play head or just clickon a spot and the play head will jump to it.Over here is the current frame number window, and it reports whateverframe the play head is on, but it has another useful feature.You can type in a play number, and the play head will jump to it.Now, that might seem a little bit trite until you workon a 1,500 frame shot, then you'll find it very difficult todrag the play head to the frame you want, but allyou got to do is type it in and off you go.

We can also zoom in on the timeline with Alt+middle mouse, drag right and left.You can also select a specific frame range and have the timelinesnap to it by using Cmd or Ctrl+middle mouse, click and drag.And now frame 15 to 25 is in the timeline.Using the Alt+left mouse button, you can pan the timeline.And if you want to re-home it, make sure the cursor is on the timeline.Just click the middle mouse button.

Here's the frame increment window.Every time I click on the right arrows, it'll jump ten frames or backten frames, but you can change that to anything you want, such as two.Now, it's going to jump two frames each.This can be very handy if you're rotoscoping on twos, for example.You can also set in and out points from the timeline.These little orange triangles here, this is the inpoint and over on this end, that's the out point.Position the play head in the middle of the range you want your in and out point.Move the cursor to the left of the play headand Cmd+click and the in point will jump to your cursor.

Move the cursor to the other side of the play head,Cmd+click, and the out point will jump to where your cursor is.You can also type the numbers in here if you wish.And if you want to turn it off, just click on this button here.And of course it will remember your in and out points, soyou can turn them on and off as many times as you wish.You might have noticed the green line down here on the timeline.This is marking which frames have been cached.So right now this frame is cached, and if I singleframe with the arrow key right arrow, I'm caching those frames.If I play, it's going to cache all of them.

If you'd like to clear the cache come up to theCache drop-down menu on the Menu Bar and select Clear Playback Cache.The green line goes away and the cache is gone.Nuke's sophisticated timeline gives you a great deal of control overthe playback of your shots, and is an important diagnostic as well.However, to find out where the first and last frame of the timelineis set, we'll have to look to the project settings in the next video.

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Author

Updated

10/4/2016

Released

5/20/2014

Visual effects dominate at the box office, and Nuke is the compositing software that is used at high-end studios to create those mind-blowing effects. In this comprehensive course, digital compositing pioneer and Nuke authority Steve Wright introduces this complex and powerful tool to visual effects artists new to Nuke. Starting with an introduction to the unique node-based interface and progressing through techniques like color correction, keying, rotoscoping, and tracking, this course covers Nuke from top to bottom.

This course was created by Steve Wright. We're honored to host this training in our library.

Topics include:

Navigating the timeline, nodes, and Curve Editor

Working with channels

Merging images

Color correcting

Transforming and reformatting images

Rotoscoping

Keying and compositing

Warping and morphing footage

Compositing in 3D

Skill Level Beginner

7h 36m

Duration

278,499

Views

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Q: This course was updated on 05/01/2015. What changed?

A: The author added a "Nuke 9 New Features" chapter, which covers what's new in Nuke 9.